Book Review #14 - Eleanor and Park

At my children's "country" elementary school, there library there also serves as a branch library to the rural community. It is small but does usually have a copy of the hard to get a hold of new releases so, if I'm picking up one of my children, I often go in and find something to read. The librarian working is always the same and we have gotten to know each other during check-out and return times.

How much do I love that she had a book I had never heard of reserved for me just because she thought I might like it? A lot. She had just finished reading it and said, "I kept thinking you'd like it as I read it." This is so strange because we really don't know each other but maybe she knows me better than I know her since she knows what I read.

She was right. I really liked it. I was a pretty normal teenager. Honestly, I think every teen feels like a big freak but I usually don't relate to books like Perks of Being A Wallflower because I was involved and had friends and did sports and all that "uncool" stuff to those who rebuff the mainstream either by choice or by force. I couldn't finish Perks because of all of the sex and drugs but this book was able to highlight the difficulties of kids who don't fit in without making either of the characters degenerates. I adored Eleanor. I loved her thoughts and her insecurities and her coping skills. I hated her family. I wondered which kids I ignored because of their clothes or weirdness might have had home lives like Eleanor. Park was a little less believable to me because his isolation seemed more self-imposed.

Still, there is a moment in the plot when Eleanor and Park are in an English class and studying Romeo and Juliet and the teacher is trying to engage the students to think why such a sad story has survived the test of time as well as it has. Predictable answers are given until Eleanor suggests that it reminds people what it feels like to be young and in love.

This book does just that. I never had a high school romance as intense as the one experienced between Eleanor and Park but I have fallen in love and the description and progression of that magical discovery that someone likes you just as much as you like them is perfect. The nuanced secondary characters, awesome 80s references, tragic backgrounds and formidable odds to overcome made this read that much more sweet.